


breaking free (the start of something new)

by cassiopia



Series: your faith gives me strength (strength to believe) [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Romance, Secret Relationship, anakin is a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 17:36:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3538205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiopia/pseuds/cassiopia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Anakin Skywalker is a dork, and also possibly part cat, and Padmé Naberrie may secretly find this adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	breaking free (the start of something new)

**Author's Note:**

> So this was inspired by a post on tumblr (see below), courtesy of ygrittebardots and ct-hardcase, who are awesome. The idea of Anakin the science dork was too dear to me and then it turned anidala because OTP.
> 
> http://ct-hardcase.tumblr.com/post/109715413388/ygrittebardots-ygrittebardots-friendly-reminder
> 
> Title from High School Musical because if you're going to write a high school au, you may as well go full hog.
> 
> Probably to be continued, depending on whether or not all the other snippets in my head for this 'verse stick around and how much interest there is.
> 
> Happy reading!

Padmé Naberrie swept down the empty corridor like a hurricane in an enclosed space. She was utterly out of place in deep crimson and gold, hair twisted and pinned and sprayed into one of her endless number of improbable hairstyles.

"Hey!"

She spun around, coat flaring exactly the way she had spent long hours coaxing it into, and searched the distinctly empty corridor for the speaker.

"Look up."

She did, and was treated to the unusual sight of Anakin Skywalker’s head hanging upside down over the edge of the tall lockers. Most of his body was (sadly) hidden from view with only one bent knee peeking up, silhouetted against the sunlight streaming through the tiny windows above the parade of metal cabinets. He disappeared again only for two hands to appear, drop three robotics textbooks, two sketchbooks and a tattered messenger bag to the floor before their owner slid down himself to join her. He landed neatly but with the thump of the kind of boots that existed only to make as many clumping and clomping sounds as possible.

Worn through jeans, faded t-shirt, a thirty-year-old leather jacket that had had both its sleeves cut off with safety scissors and racoon eyeliner he’d probably applied with his thumbs. The ultimate rebel cliché, but she wasn’t going to mention it, at least not today. That particular argument had been going on since Ani had first discovered leather, rock music and her make-up case, and she knew from experience it wasn’t worth the effort.

He collected his books and balanced them precariously on top of the bag and picked up the entire thing, holding it like a baby.

“It never ceases to amaze me, the places you manage to get yourself. Who are you hiding from today? The principal? Your guidance counsellor? Or, perhaps, our esteemed Head Boy? The one who spent the entirety of our meeting sighing and glowering like an overwrought Regency heroine?” She internally winced at her own voice. She didn’t usually use quite so much sarcasm, especially not with Anakin.

He looked away. She exhaled heavily, not quite a sigh, and changed the subject. “What’s in there?” She asked, inclining her head towards his misshapen bundle, “And did you eat while you were up in your fortress of solitude hiding from Obi-Wan?”

“Nope. I was waiting for you. And it’s just a project.”

“Yeah?” she replied, encouraging him to elaborate.

“Yeah,” he answered, uncharacteristically vague. Anakin’s tendency to espouse the virtues of everything he built had made her late on more than one occasion.

“Yeah? Are you planning on being any more vague about that?”

Anakin had this one grin that almost never came out but that made her feel a lot like she was flying. It was full force now. He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into the first empty class room and set down the bag, opening it up and pulling out a small jumble of servos, motors, wires and distinctive blue and white casing.

Dear goddess.

He gave her that grin again. “The robotics club is meeting tonight and R2 is finally repaired enough to go at it. They’re not going to know what hit them.”

“You know who didn’t know what hit him last time? Vice Principal Windu. You are _going_ to get expelled.”

“But I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing I am the greatest mechanic in the city.”

The sound of her own laughter was almost a surprise to her. She realised that the tension headache she’d been carrying for days was faded to almost nothing and looked up at him again. The light was dim in here and everything looked just slightly hazy, the kind of light that made the world seem a little kinder than it had been that morning. She could see dust motes in the air spiral past lazily in the hot stifling air. She sneaked a furtive glance through the window in the door – no one coming. Good.

“Put that down and come over here.” She gave him a smile of her own, the one he liked, a little wicked and a little mischievous and more than a little silly. He turned clumsy and nearly knocked a stack of books of the desk in his haste but he made it over to her, crowding in against her. She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, one hand on the desk for balance and the other fisted in his t-shirt and he bent down until his neck was bent to what had a to be an uncomfortable degree. The angle was all wrong and their teeth clashed painfully. They broke apart, laughing like children. This was why there was usually furniture involved.

He helped her climb onto the desk and she stretched up again. This time it worked, fitting together like puzzle pieces, the way they always did eventually. They stayed like that long minutes, the heat and the comfort of closeness making everything feel slow and languid.

“Ok, we need to go. Kiavé save us, we are going to be so late and neither of us have even eaten.”

“Ever practical, that’s my Mé.” Another smile, this one shyly fond, like he wasn’t sure if this was allowed. She kissed him again for the feeling that one inspired (a rising feeling, like a flood in her chest), then slipped away, waiting for him at the door. He joined her and they quickly checked each other over for signs they had been doing anything other than talking. They slipped out quietly and she let their shoulders bump before they re-joined the general population.

“You know you never did say why you were on top of the lockers. Did you get into another fight?”

“Do I always have to have an ulterior motive?”

“Usually.”

“If you absolutely must know, it was warmer up there.” And with that, he slipped away into the line and left her standing at the entrance to the cafeteria, laughing that honest laugh again.

Hell, this might be a record.


End file.
